Better Times
by danniisupernova
Summary: Follow up to Life Goes On. A lot more crew action. JayneKaylee, SimonZoe, MalInara. Much drama. :CONTINUED IN WORLD WITHOUT SIN:
1. Gifts

A few months after 'Life Goes On'

Zoe and Simon had been arguing again. There fights usually got real loud which was strange considering the mates taciturn nature. Mal could not recall her ever being so hotheaded the entire time he'd known her, even the fights the captain had had with her in the days approaching her marriage to Hoban Washburne.

The baby would be born in about three months. Zoe expressed vehemently that she wanted the child born as far away from the alliance as possible, perhaps somewhere out. She'd begun to show two months before at which point most of the crew had gone crazy for the coming baby. Kaylee was always talking about what to name the baby as Zoe expressed little interest in the subject. She did however veto naming the child after it's father. The little mechanic had taken to writing long lists of boy names and girl names. Jayne was distracted with baby proofing the ship, though Zoë told him that it was totally unnecessary as the child was still three months away.

Inara constantly spoke of initiation to samsara for the baby, which Zoë was partial to. She out rightly refused to have the baby baptized in the Shepard's faith.

"He ain't here to complain anyway." Zoe would say defensively if asked.

River was keeping to herself more often then not. She had grown distant from Simon after her recovery from psychosis. She rarely spoke with anyone and when she did, it was only in the riddle like verse that had grown more and more difficult to interpret. The only thing that seemed to ground her was putting her ear to Zoe's belly and feeling the baby kick. Simon personally believed that she was listening to the child's uncomplicated thoughts as a distraction from all the friction on board.

The only exception to all the excitement was Mal. He just couldn't seem to get enthusiastic about the baby. All it meant to him was that there would be another small person underfoot and that his first mate would be moody and for all practical purposes incapacitated for close to six months. The ship had enough problems as it was. There was still considerable tension between Mal and Kaylee after his threats of kicking her, Jayne and Inara off Serenity. Mal wanted to make things right between himself and Kaylee but he still distrusted Jayne. He was also loathe to facing Jayne after the death of the merc's family. Mal felt that it was his fault for making his crew a target for the Alliance. Things were not going well for him.

Around that time they got a call to smuggle some illegal weaponry from the factory on Lilandra to Redrock, at the drop point in B'Dari. It was far enough out of Alliance control that it wasn't very likely to be a trap, but Mal insisted that they prepare for one. He didn't want another incident like the one on Sol 3. In fact, Mal did not want to go at all, but food and fuel were running dangerously low.

Kaylee found River, sitting alone in the engine room. They'd been on Redrock for about two days and the rest of the crew was out transporting the goods from the ship. Kaylee was just eating up time until Jayne came back. She was surprised to see River there. Usually she was on the bridge or down in the infirmary.

"Hey, mei mei! Watcha doin?"

River sat, her head in her arms. She looked up at Kaylee, crying.

"I'm getting worse."

Kaylee was shocked. "But after Miranda, you said you were fine! You've been fine."

River smiled at her sadly. "I was wrong. I see things. Horrible…horrible things. And I don't know if they'll happen or if they already have! I hear everything in your head right now. You're happy that you'll see Jayne again soon when he comes back, I can see you with him in my head! It's too much! It's like drowning." River sobbed. Kaylee reached out to hold her. River pulled away. The psychic looked up at Kaylee for a moment before pulling her near and placing an ear to her stomach.

She smiled excitedly. "A present! All wrapped! Her daddy's eyes!"

As River listened closely to the thrum of new life, Kaylee was terrified. "River, I can't be havin a baby!"

River drew a sharp breath. "You're afraid." "Well, I can't have a baby! What the hell would I do?" "No, you're afraid…of what he might say." River looked the mechanic in the face. "Don't lie, or try to hide it. Just tell him. Bad things will happen if you don't." There was a hard glint in her eye. "Tell him. I see him…dying. Do what I say or you'll regret it!"

Kaylee's heart somersaulted. River pushed her away. "You're afraid of me, of the things I see!" Kaylee turned and ran.

"You should be." River whispered and began to cry again.

Redrock wasn't the nicest planet in the middle ring, but it was the pick up spot. Jayne sat, cigar in his teeth, waiting for Mal and Zoe to return with the mule. Zoe had wanted to pick a few things up while they were planetside. Jayne shuddered thinking of all the vile things Zoe had been eating: tangerines and noodles, ice planets with curry on em. It was enough to make a man heave, which was probably why, or so Jayne thought, women had the babies instead.

B'Dari had a flea market, which was where Jayne had gone. Zoe's cravings were a guarantee for extra time on the ground so the merc had decided to do a little shopping of his own. When the mule arrived he'd got what he'd come for: an old war issue pistol for Kaylee, almost like the captains but then Mal had reassembled that gorram thing so many times it barely looked like this one. Of course he'd already 'lost' one of the assault rifles from the delivery in his pack. It amazed him sometimes the sloppy way people inventoried restricted firearms. In a way, both were gifts for her. In his mind at least.

Jayne was covered in dust when the three of them returned to Serenity. Without even pausing to brush himself off he headed to the engine room. But only River was there, acting even crazier than the day he'd met her, mumbling and pacing.

"She loves it already."

River was looking straight at him. "Go give it to her. Then she can love it to your face." She then kept on just mumbling and walking back and forth. "You didn't tell her that I- " River began to shout at him.

"GET OUT! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Shaken, Jayne left the engine room. Kaylee was in his bunk, laying face down. Jayne felt a moment of panic. Was she dead?

_-layin there with her throat slit, gasping like a fish, just staring at him, dying a thousand miles away nothing to do but sit there and watch. Watch her die. The woman who'd raised him, fed him, sent him out to get work. What if he turned Kaylee over and she was gasping like that covered in her blood, dying and then there would be nothing he could do, nothing that-_

Then Kaylee sat up. "Jayne-" Before she could say anything else, Jayne pulled her tight to him. "You've only been gone for three hours." Kaylee said, surprised. Hell even after six months sleeping with the man and almost three years knowin him he still surprised her. Jayne pulled back. "Sorry." "It's alright, not like I didn't miss you." Kaylee smiled at him.

"I bought you something. In B'Dari." Jayne took out the service pistol and proudly gave it to her. "I figured ya should have this, seein as ya ain't got one of your own." Kaylee laid it down next to her on the bunk. She'd never had much of an affinity for guns nor the skill to shoot but she appreciated the thought in any case. "And this," he continued, "is for me. I'm going to name her Kaylee, 'cause she's small but can do some damage when she wants to."

Kaylee decided this was her moment. She was scared, but she was more scared of what River had said. She looked him in the face. "I've got something else for us to name."


	2. Complications

As soon as she was onboard again, Zoe headed for the infirmary. She didn't have any particular need to go there, but it was becoming a habit. When she arrived, Simon was speaking with Kaylee. Zoe wondered why she would be there alone, she and Jayne were rarely seen without each other. Kaylee stormed out of the infirmary, shaking her head, barely noticing the mate.

Zoe forgot about all these things as she walked into the infirmary. Simon looked irritated and was completely distracted. "Doc?" Simon looked up at her. He smiled immediately. "Oh, Zoe. How are you?" the smile faltered. "Are you alright?"

Zoe smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Simon was nervous. "Well…you're here…in the infirmary…so I just assumed that…" he looked up at her blushing. "Why else would you be here?" Zoe just kept on smiling. That gorram doctor put his foot in his mouth about every other sentence. But that was fine. Just meant…well it just meant he put his foot in his mouth.

"Care to join me in the galley, doctor. I'm making curry ice cream soup." Simon laughed. "I'll have to take you up on that offer."

Mal was unsure of what to say to Inara. He'd been practicing for weeks on his whole little speech about the way he felt and what a bastard he'd been to her. And now here he was, standing in front of her having said the wrong thing again. He'd been furious to learn that she'd been planning to take clients from the shuttle again.

"Well if you think I'm such a _saohuo_ then maybe I should return to Sihnon!"

Inara was enraged. This man, this ridiculous man whom she had foolishly let herself fall in love with had once again insulted her to the point of utter contempt. She just wished she could leave again. But she'd realized that she was beset by the most hideous complication of all: she didn't want to.

Kaylee was so mad she could spit. That gorram doctor holding out on her with his little insults, like she was less than or something! Maybe he hadn't meant for her to take it personally but she was pregnant gorramit and she could take things as personally as she liked!

When she'd told Jayne she'd been near terrified 'o' what he'd say to her. But he'd just been surprised, then pretty damn pleased with himself, if you asked her, but happy even. Jayne had told her to talk to Simon about it while he told Mal. He figured there was no point keeping it from him, Mal would find out anyway. Kaylee'd gone and told Simon who said something like "That figures, the two of you damn near never stop sexing!" God, as if she and him had never mended the fence! She'd been to angry to talk to him after that.

Kaylee walked up to the bridge, hoping Jayne had had more luck then her.

"Pregnant?" Mal looked at Jayne somewhere between fury, disbelief and annoyance. "What the hell do you mean? As in my mechanic is carrying a baby, that's yours? That kind of pregnant?" Mal asked. "Yeah." Jayne said. He paused. "What other kind of pregnant is there?"

"Well there's my kind of pregnant where the baby has a father that's not part ape." Zoe stood in the doorway to the bridge. She was smiling, looking the happiest any of them had seen in months. Her stomach swelling beneath her shirt she looked every part the ancient mother goddess. "Gone and knocked up your girl, what ever are you gonna do now?" she said, breaking the illusion.

"What the hell do you think I'm gonna do Zoe?" Jayne was getting angry.

"Personally? I think you'll jump ship faster then anyone can notice you're gone, leaving that little girl all alone out in the black with you're misbegotten offspring." Zoe looked him right in the face. "Well, I ain't! And don't talk about me that way! Or my baby!" he yelled back.

"Then what are you going to do Jayne?" Mal was looking at him squarely, waiting for an answer. Jayne looked from him, to Zoe and back.

"I'll do what ever she wants to do. If she doesn't want it, if she does, if she wants me to leave her the hell alone, if she wants me to marry her…fine. _Taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu, _I am not that bad of a man that I would ditch Kaylee of all people just cause she's in the family way."

Kaylee tapped Zoe on the back. She was standing on the stairs behind the first mate. "Are they fighting?"

"Well, little one, I would say we're all fighting, but only cause we were worried about you. And by the way congratulations." Zoe smiled. Kaylee looked shyly down at her shoes. She wasn't used to talking with Zoe so much after Wash had died. The woman almost seemed like a stranger.

"Well, I ain't even sure I'm gonna have it. Or her." Zoe looked at her surprised. She didn't know the sex of her own baby, there was no way the doc could tell. From behind them, Mal and Jayne continued there shouting match. It had reached the point where all they were doing was trading insults.

"Well you ain't fit to raise a ruttin cactus plant let alone a whole baby!" Mal shouted. "Oh yeah? Well…well at least I didn't…" Jayne stopped. "What Jayne? I didn't what?" "I didn't get a bunch of people killed for a lost cause!" And suddenly there it was, out in the open the thought they had both been dancing around for months. "Jayne, I didn't mean for your family to get-" "Don't. Don't even bring it up Mal." Jayne turned to leave. "And we're going to have the baby if she wants to. Hell, we'll get off if it bothers you so much. Just don't mention that ever again."


	3. Calm

They landed on Buell, closer to the Core then Zoe or Mal liked, but Simon had been absolutely insistant that he acquire the proper supplies to take care of two pregnant women on board.

"We should meet back here in an hour." Mal said. "You can all do whatever you like as long as you keep a low profile." Just then Jayne walked past wearing his knit orange cap, Vera slung over his shoulder, singing. Kaylee practically hit herself in the face to stop from laughing. Everyone but Mal was shaking, holding in their laughter, even Simon was amused. Mal looked at Jayne in disbelief. "Are you deaf? I said u low /u profile. u Low /u ." Now either take off that hat or put that gorram gun away!" Jayne was surprised at Mal's outburst but Kaylee shot him a look, a look that spoke volumes to him. Namely, 'don't start anymore fights with my captain or you will be without sex for a month.' Jayne turned and went back into the ship. Mal shouted after him "And stop that gorram singing!"

Inara walked out of Serenity, dressed to the nines as usual. She approached Kaylee and hugged her. "You comin with us 'Nara?"

"Yes, it's been ages since I've gone out with you." Inara smiled at Kaylee who looked a little irritated. Kaylee had wanted to talk to Jayne alone but the companion had just thrown in a wrench in her plans.

Zoe had elected to stay with Simon, which nobody had noticed. They all thought she was just being paranoid about her baby and wanted to stay with the doctor. River drifted towards Mal. "I'll stay. Look after the house." He looked down at her. She seemed very much a little girl to him at the moment and Mal wanted to comfort her. But she floated away, much the moonbrained way she used to do.

Kaylee was also worried about River. As everybody made ready to leave she approached Simon. Inara hung back, waiting politely.

"Has River told you about the things she's been seeing?" "Seeing? You mean the way she used to? No. That's…that's impossible."

Kaylee already knew that Simon wouldn't believe her. She didn't know how she knew or when, but she did. Maybe her baby had told her. Simon was on a roll.

"She hasn't been regressing. She would've told me! I know she would!" He was getting angry. "I would've noticed if she'd been acting strangely! I would've!"

"Look," Kaylee said, a little pissed off her self, "I was just tryin ta warn ya! Cause she's been sayin some mighty strange things ta me!"

Zoe put a hand on Simon's shoulder. "Doc? Don't you think we oughta get moving?"

Simon looked into Kaylee's face almost frantically. "There's nothing wrong with my sister. Nothing."

River Tam was alone. It still wasn't quiet. Serenity spoke to her, whispering her secrets. River wanted to

I -make him understand that he was the only reason I'm staying, I love him, so gorram much it almost kills me, heart broken before this, a man in uniform, the rain, the light, I'm the job now, like an Operative, he would've understood, but Mal would never- /I 

River's heart ached as she passed the shuttle door. It was as if somebody was squeezing her head.

She fled down into the cargo bay sitting on the weight bench. Suddenly she could feel hands running all over her body. She heard the waves as she had before. 'Oh God,' she thought. 'Please God, don't let me be Kaylee!' River imagined Jayne touching her and had to fight the urge to throw up. She hated that man sometimes and just the thought of -

I - her hands on my chest, pushing me back, everyone else is asleep, gonna enjoy this, want her, want her so much, hard to think, just want Kaylee- /I 

River almost screamed, again fighting the urge to vomit. Now running, she went to the bridge, to her place. Every molecule of the ship spoke to her, each voice, each memory or thought blending into the next like a choir-

I - I love him, he knows that, what if he leaves when I tell-

-he's blaming me for it, but it is my fault, I-

-Mal this, yes sir, no sir, what the hell, she's my wife-

-I want to take Simon to my bed- /I 

This last thought stopped River cold. There was no silence but in the cacophony that voice stood out. She knelt on the stairs to the bridge, putting her ear to the floor. She heard ocean waves, saw her brother with a lover's eye. "No!" she whispered throwing these memories off. Who? Who was thinking-

I -he looks after me and my baby, like it was his, couldn't ask for more but- /I 

The thoughts were too much. All of it was too much. River got up, her face serene and left the thoughts behind.

Jayne, Kaylee and Inara walked into the Moon Dog, a seedy bar in Green River. Kaylee had talked animatedly with Inara while they walked the streets but she was silently willing her friend to leave. So she'd picked the most fe yu bar she could find, hoping Inara would leave of her own accord.

Kaylee was right. "Egh." Inara said. "I'll meet up with you back at the ship mei mei." As soon as she was out of sight Kaylee turned to Jayne. "I need to talk to you." Jayne looked down at her. She was looking at him very seriously and she looked so gorram adorable that he almost laughed. He smiled. "This sounds serious. As the mother of my child, you should probably buy me a drink."

Inara left the bar. She was well aware that Kaylee had wanted her to leave. To her, the bar hadn't looked that bad, but then maybe she had just been around Mal too long.

Then she saw him. The man she had left on Sihnon so long ago, the man who had nearly brought her to ruin, the first man she had ever loved. John Sturgis, lieutenant of General Calla.

Inara turned, walking away as fast as she could without appearing conspicuous. He hadn't spotted her. 'Or he didn't recognize you. You aren't fifteen anymore,' she thought. Inara wanted to find Mal as quickly as she could. If Sturgis was here then there would be Alliance people out in force and with Serenity and her crew around it only meant one thing: trouble.

"Okay, let me see if I got this," Jayne said, slurring a little.

"You want to have the baby,"

"Uh-huh," Kaylee nodded.

"But you want to know if I want it too?"

"Yup. My ma always said that you should make damn sure a man wants your child 'fore you go around calling him the daddy. Elsewise you might wake up and find your bunk cold and empty."

Jayne took a swig of his drink. The girl was smart. Hell, she was smarter then him and that was saying something in his opinion.

"Well," he began, wondering what exactly he was gonna say to her, "Kaylee girl, you pretty much got your hooks in me permanently. So I figure we should just have the baby. Cause you want it and I want it-"

"Her." Kaylee said quietly, smiling a little. "River said she had your eyes."

Jayne leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He didn't see her face cloud over as she remembered what else River had said.

A few moments later all hell broke loose in Green River on Buell. But for a few seconds before, River felt the calm she missed so dearly. She would have wept had it not been for her mission. She lay down, bleeding, to die.


	4. Warzone

Black smoke filled the air. Mal was running towards the docks, praying that his people would be there. Everything was a blur. Why were there so many of them, HOW were there so many of them? Hadn't most of them been killed? Killed by River?

He saw people running and dying all around him, a man walking down the street, his stomach split open and his innards falling out, screaming in the chaos until a shrieking mob of Reavers fell on him, eating him alive. Mal pulled his gun and shot the man. The Reavers dropped him and turned to Mal, raging with the lose of their prize.

"Bad idea!" Mal sprinted away, turning and shooting at them as he ran.

Jayne was glad he'd put his hat back. He stood shooting non stop in front of the bar. He'd put Kaylee behind it when she'd been shot. Some gorram fool had run in being chased by a huge pack of Reavers. When they'd caught him he'd shot of his gun in all directions, shoutin for somebody to help him. One of the stray bullets had caught Kaylee in the arm.

He was running low on ammo. Not that he didn't carry a lot with him, he just hadn't been expecting a war. One of the Reavers grabbed for him and Jayne slapped it upside the head with Vera. As it fell, the light caught something on the side of it's head. A camera, a small one. Jayne didn't have time to think on this oddity. He was out of bullets and the crowd was closing fast. Something flew by his face and shattered on the ground. Kaylee had thrown a Molotov cocktail of cheap liquor and a napkin into the Reavers so's he could get away.

Jayne vaulted over the bar. Kaylee sat there cradling her arm. She was covered in blood. She looked up at him. She'd given him the same look only half an hour before when she'd brought him here. Suddenly a Reaver vaulted the bar and landed on top of her. Jayne was grabbed from behind.

They were going to die.

Inara was running like she'd never run before. And then she was lying on the ground. She looked up into John Sturgis' face. His face registered shock for a moment before picking her up. They ran together toward Serenity.

This was a nightmare. Inara prayed to anyone that would listen that she would be safe, that Mal and Zoe, Simon, Kaylee, even Jayne would be waiting for her. She begged God that Mal would be there to be suspicious of Sturgis, to call her a I saohuo /I . Then she thought of River, all alone on the ship. She ran faster.

Zoe pumped round after round into the hellish riot in the street. Simon was terrified and shooting frantically in all directions.

For every Reaver she killed, Zoe felt her baby kick inside her, spurring her on, cutting a swath through them.

Jayne screamed Kaylee's name. A single shot rang out. Kaylee pushed the body of the Reaver off her. In her right hand she held the old pistol Jayne had given her only two days before. She turned the gun at him, shooting the other Reaver. The shot caught Jayne in the ear, hitting the screaming freak in the head.

As abruptly as it began, the attack was over. The Reavers simply all stopped and retreated, leaving behind flayed skin, broken bodies and crushed skulls. As if somebody somewhere had flipped a switch.

When the Reavers chasing him had stopped, turned and walked away from him, Mal was not confused. The level of absolute bewilderment he felt hadn't been invented yet. The sudden quiet uneased Mal. He'd shot one of the Reavers through the kneecap and it had just continued on walking away. He wanted to get the hell out of there but his crew, his family was scattered across the city. He headed to the bridge, to see if any of them had been able to wave. Something was definitely and obviously not right.

And he found it lying on the steps to the bridge. River, her wrists cut, said softly to him, "Show me the mercy you gave to the man outside," when he picked her up. He ran with her to the infirmary. She'd been bleeding all over the steps and he could almost feel her dying.

He set her down on the table in the kitchen. He didn't think there was enough time to save her. He took his belt and his shirt, peeling both off as fast as he could and tied off her arms. The bleeding began to slow.

"No, please, please mercy! I'll do anything, be your slave for the day, just please let me die, mercy!" River sobbed. She grabbed his wrist, wrenching it weakly. "I'll tell you what she thinks when she sees your face, the apple of her eye, just please, I need to go through with my mission! Mercy!"

"Don't have that much mercy today girl." Mal said. Then he pulled his fist back and knocked her out.

"Only half dead, darlin."

Kaylee clutched onto Jayne as tight as she could. They'd been sitting behind the bar together for what felt like hours.

"I think we should try to get back to Serenity." Kaylee said as loudly as she could manage. They stood up together. Jayne stepped on something. It mad a metal crunch. It was a camera, knocked off of the Reaver Kaylee had shot. He picked it up and showed it to her.

"What the hell was he," Jayne gestured to the dead body, "doing with this?" "Look." Kaylee pointed to the writing on the side of the device. Blue Sun.


	5. Alone

Simon was terrified. He had left River all alone on Serenity! How could he have been so stupid?

'Maybe she knew it would happen,' he thought. 'Maybe she saw it?' He thought of what Kaylee had said to him only an hour or so ago. It was impossible! What could have happened to make her worse? 'Or maybe' he thought darkly, 'she was never better to begin with.'

Simon pushed the thought away, violently. He and Zoe were almost to the docks. River would be fine.

Mal looked at the sleeping girl. He thought of all she'd been through. The bandages he'd put on her arms covered her only escape attempt. Thinking back, Mal suddenly couldn't blame her. River had been alone.

'All of us around her, none of them really there.'

Kaylee'd gone off with Jayne, Simon was always distracted, things Mal would have thought impossible a year ago. Everybody was so far away from both of them.

"Well, little Albatross," Mal took her hand. "Looks like it's just you and me."

In her sleep, River smiled and squeezed his hand.

There were bodies everywhere. Jayne kicked the one blocking the door out of the way. He was half carrying Kaylee. When that Reaver had landed on her ruttin ankle, hurt it. Her arm was a mess from that idiot shooting her. Little Kaylee took more looking after then a whole gorram townful of women.

Kaylee clutched her pistol close to her, ready to shoot anything that moved. They were close to the docks now. She did her best to hold it together. She looked up at Jayne. Without him she'd be dead or worse by now. Kaylee smiled thinking on how foolish she'd been about choosing him. Sometimes it was ridiculous how much people over thought things.

"This is getting stupid little Kaylee." Jayne said.

"What do you-"

He scooped her up into his arms. "We'll get to the docks much faster if I don't have to help you along. So I'll run and you shoot, dong ma?" Kaylee nodded without hesitation. She kissed his cheek. "Don't worry. I'll protect you!"

They had finally reached the ship. Inara felt like she was going to fall down and die, but she had to see Mal. Had to make sure he wasn't just a part of this nightmare.

"What are we doing here? My ship is down there. I can take you anywhere. We can go wherever we want to." Sturgis pointed down the rows of ships. He was insistent that Inara come with him. Suddenly she was angry with him. This man had practically left her to ruin as a girl. All of her sentimental feelings for him immediately evaporated. Even now, the man thought only of himself, trying to take her wherever he wanted.

"Wait a minute, isn't this Malcolm Reynolds' ship? The Serenity?" Sturgis squinted up at the crest on her side.

"Get out of here." Inara's voice was tense. "I don't ever want to see your face again. If you come back here, I'll kill you myself."

"There she is!" Kaylee was happier then she'd ever been in her life. There was Serenity. Mal had opened the airlock for them and was probably waiting for them right now so's they could get off this godforsaken rock.

"Hey! Kaylee! Jayne!" Zoe and Simon were running towards them from the opposite direction.

"Well, c'mon! Let's get inside, I ain't getting any fonder of this rock!" It was Mal, waiting for them with Inara.

"You know Jayne, you're bleedin all over me." Kaylee joked. "Well, I can't really help it. And you can't complain. You shot me."

Simon looked over at them. "You shot him?" he asked Kaylee.

"I saved his ruttin life! So you can't complain either." Kaylee punched Jayne on the arm, smiling. Everybody in the hold was relieved, except Mal. He still had to break the news to Simon.

Kaylee touched Jayne's ear. "It doesn't look to bad."

"Can't hardly feel it anyway," he shrugged.

"Really?"

"Well, not when you keep fiddling with it!"

Kaylee smiled and whispered in his ear "I think we should go celebrate. Nothing fancy, say…your bunk in about…now?"

Jayne grinned at her. "That's the smartest thing I've heard all day." He turned, his back to the open airlock door, still carrying Kaylee.

"Jayne!"

It was Zoe. A second later, Jayne felt something rip through his right shoulder, missing Kaylee's head by inches. It was a Reaver harpoon. The Reaver wielding it began pulling him back. Kaylee, Zoe and Mal began shooting at it. It collapsed onto the floor.

"Shut that door!" Mal shouted. There could be more coming. What the hell was going on?

Kaylee tore the cable off the harpoon. She pulled out the harpoon and threw it. It skittered across the deck, pinging as it hit the wall.

It had punched a slick bloody hole in his shoulder. She grabbed him holding him close to her. "I'm bleeding on you." Jayne touched her blood soaked shirt. Simon rushed to them. "I have to stop the bleeding. We should get out of here now," he looked at Mal.

Kaylee held Jayne. "Just fix him!" she almost yelled at Simon. Kaylee was thinking on what River had told her. The hell she was going to let it come true cause Simon was too damn distracted to help.


	6. Apart

Zoe stayed in the cargo hold while Simon helped Jayne in the infirmary. She heard shouting from the little mechanic and Simon shouting right back. She paid it no mind. She thought on how she'd been carrying on with Simon, just because he was there. She didn't really have any feelings for him but she'd just felt like she shouldn't be alone, like she should always have somebody. The way it had been before Wash died. When they'd always been together, like two halves of a whole.

She sealed the loading door, but she didn't throw the Reaver out. Something about it just bothered her. One Reaver, all by it's lonesome? Only one? Reavers hunted in packs, not like a family, but like wild dogs. Never by themselves. Like her. Only one…why the hell did it bother her so damn much?

It seemed like hours. Kaylee sat on her bunk, head in her hand. Simon hadn't pulled the bullet out of her arm or looked at her ankle. But Kaylee wasn't complaining. Between a dead merc and a go se ankle, she'd rather have to walk around with a gimp the rest of her life.

Simon had thrown her out of the infirmary. She didn't blame him. Crisis situations weren't easy for her, she tended to panic.

There had been blood everywhere, all over her and Jayne and Simon…even the smell, like raw meat. She could smell it in her clothes and in her hair. Suddenly Kaylee couldn't stand the smell…God it was horrible. She limped over to the wall and pulled out the sink. She rubbed the water over her face and her hands and her hair, but the smell…God that smell! It wouldn't come out. Kaylee wanted to scream and tear off her skin. The blood, the blood, the smell.

Kaylee sat down on her bunk, put her head between her knees and threw up on the floor.

Inara sat with Mal in the kitchen. He'd been incredibly quiet. River say next to him, wearing his brown coat. She began to fidget.

"Mal, is there something-"

Mal cut her off. "River tried to kill herself while we were gone. The only reason she's alive is because I found her." River sat silently, crying, twitching.

"My God, did you tell Simon?" Inara was shocked. The little girl had been doing so well since becoming pilot of Serenity. The companion had sensed her deep rapport with the ship, almost as strong as Kaylee's.

"No. And I don't intend to."

"You can't be serious! He's her brother, he has a right to know-"

"He's her brother as soon as he starts acting like it! The man is completely absorbed with Zoe and her baby!" Mal turned to her, furious. Inara had no idea what it had been like, finding that girl all alone trying to disappear forever out into the Black.

River suddenly began to claw at her back through the coat.

"Get it out! Get it out! It'll kill us all!"

Jayne had stabilized after a blood transfusion and extensive stitching. Simon had had to use most of the blood in stores, Jayne'd lost so much. He'd filled the puncture with gelofoam and would probably have to keep the merc in a drug-induced coma to make sure he didn't hurt himself further and for the pain. It would take weeks for the skin to grow back.

Simon removed his surgical gloves and mask. He left the infirmary. Mal would need to know that Jayne was currently out of commission and Kaylee had been utterly frantic…

Simon saw it. River grappling with Mal in the kitchen. She was shrieking and Mal was trying to pin her to the table. Inara stood away from them, shocked into paralysis.

"It's in my brain! They're crawling all over me! Oh God, kill me!" River was scratching at her spine and face. She had thrown Mal's coat to the floor and the bandages on her slashed arms were stained bright red. It was every nightmare Simon had imagined since Kaylee had warned him this morning. And he hadn't seen it coming. Not once.

"What the hell happened? What did you do to my sister?" Simon pushed Mal back.

"She did it to herself! I just came along and patched her up the best I could!" Mal shouted.

"Get it out of me!" River shrieked, lunging for a kitchen knife. Inara stepped in front of the girl, blocking her path. River stepped around her almost invisible with speed, knocking the companion to the floor. She took the knife and stabbed herself in the back, cutting through her skin to expose the bone and muscle beneath. River clawed at the wound, revealing her spine. It gleamed, sliver.


	7. Together

Mal and Zoe had moved Jayne from the operating table in the infirmary to the couch just outside. He had regained consciousness for a few moments. "S'going on?"

"Nothing Jayne, go back to sleep." Mal said. "'kay." His eyes closed.

River was bleeding everywhere and Simon was trying very hard not to lose it. Kaylee sat down on the floor next to Jayne, ignoring everything.

Simon layed River face-down on the table.  
"Please, Simon…please take it out of me." River whispered.

Simon said nothing back. Inwardly he was berating himself for not seeing River's desperation. He sedated her heavily and began to continue the incision along her spine.

About an hour later, Simon emerged from the infirmary. He was pale and shaking.

"They've melded some kind of device to her spine. I can't remove it."

Mal looked at Simon. "Now explain to me how that was done without you knowing?"

"I have no idea. There are no scars on her back, no markings from a tubular pump, which would have killed her in any case…" Simon was near tears in frustration. "I don't even know who did this to her anymore! The Alliance only wanted to keep her quiet about Miranda and now something is pulling her apart on the inside and there's nothing I can do!" He hung his head. Zoe stood up and went over to him, placing a hand on his back. He looked up into her face and smiled weakly.

"S'not your fault."

Kaylee sat on the floor next to the couch and Jayne. She had his hand in hers. She smiled up at Simon, though it clearly pained her to do so. "You just gotta do the best that you can and hope it's enough to keep it all together and flyin." Kaylee thought of the compression coil, Zoe thought of how she'd latched onto Simon after Wash'd died.

Simon recut the sutures and skin above River's spine. She'd been hesitant to be sedated again but Simon had convinced her that it was all for the best. The metal gleamed at him, mockingly. But he breathed deeply, thought of River, dancing as a young girl and Zoe's hand on his back. He remembered Kaylee's words to him only a few minutes before. He began to work.

Kaylee sat with Jayne. It had been three hours since he'd been put under, longer since he'd been shot. Her ankle ached, but it wasn't even a sprain, so it wouldn't be hurting too much longer. When Zoe had removed the bullet from her arm, the woman had asked her some questions, right odd ones they'd been to, about Simon and when she'd been with him. Kaylee hadn't really liked talking about him; there were still sore spots left over, like from an old brake in a bone.

For the first time in a long time, Kaylee wondered about Simon. He had been spending a lot of time with Zoe, hadn't he? No one had really paid attention to it, simply assuming that Zoe was paranoid about her baby. And Simon had been around her all the time. But then again…

"Kaylee?"

Simon stood in the door to the infirmary. His eyes were lit up. "I may have found a way to shut this…thing, whatever it is off. But I need your help."

"Why me?"

"You're good with machines and it's something you can take care off, even with your arm like that."

Kaylee looked at Jayne. He mumbled groggily in his sleep. She bit her lip, hesitantly.

"Cap? Will you sit with Jayne while I help Simon?" Kaylee called.

"No."

"Fat lot of help you are." Kaylee sighed. She couldn't leave Jayne alone. Hell, if she was under like this, he wouldn't leave her. And after what River had said. That she had seen him dying…what if her just up and died and she wasn't there?

"I'll sit with him mei mei."

Inara stood on the stairs. She had on no makeup and looked slightly drained. She had retreated to her shuttle while most of the action was going on, an odd thing for her to do as the companion was usually in the thick of everything.

"I'll tell him where you are if he wake up." She smiled at Kaylee.

Before she could reply, Simon pulled the little mechanic into the infirmary.

"So tell me what I'm doing here."

River lay on her stomach, knocked out and her back split open. A steel device ran from the curve in her spin all the way up to the base of her skull where it disappeared.

"I know I can't remove it from her body because it has some kind of direct contact with her brain. It would kill her. But see there," Simon pointed between her shoulder blades, "right in the middle of the thoracic portion of the spine there seems to be some kind of control node. I think if you could sever the connections there-"

"No."

Kaylee looked at the slickly designed implant. "That's not where you want to get to. It doesn't make any sense that the control would be there, where any idiot could get to it, just by hitting her in the back with somethin." She pointed to where to implant slipped into River's brain. "That's where I'll be needin to get to. See the two prongs branching out? That's how the signals are getting into her mind, so the wires are probably not going ta be in there. But where they just start out…that's where I need to get to."

"Sir, does this sit right with you?"

Mal and Zoe stood in the cargo bay, looking down at the dead Reaver. They had removed the camera from the side of it's head which Zoe had been vehement about destroying, while Mal felt that placing the camera face down was good enough to prevent whoever was on the other side from seeing them.

"Well, it's all a mite perplexing to me. One Reaver, all by it's lonesome just seems to be the light whipped topping on this _fe yu_ day. First it's an attack on a Core planet. Now that just makes no kind of sense along with the way the raid just…disappeared the way it did. None of it's adding up."

Zoe cocked her head to one side. The Reaver looked familiar. It was female, somewhere under all the insanity and cuts.

"Sir!"

Mal looked at Zoe.

"There's something tattooed on it's neck."

Mal leaned in, looking carefully at it. "It's a number. The kind that comes on ship parts. Like a serial number."

He peered into the Reaver's face. "Zoe, this piece of ugly look familiar to you?"

Mal kept looking at it's blank, deformed face.

"Yes, sir. She does."

"_Tiana_!"

Mal looked up at Zoe.

"Get Jayne up here. Now."

Kaylee carefully cut the wire. The green one. She'd been looking at the three wires for about five minutes before she made her choice. The voice of the implant had been whispering to her, 'the red one, the red one," but Kaylee didn't trust that voice. It threw her, having always trusted Serenity, whose voice was more like a song, telling her every ache and pain in her beautiful body. The implants voice was hateful and mean. It had spurred her on to get the job done.

She had been terrified of makin a mistake. After all, Buddha alone knew what could happen if she cut the wrong wire. River might just die or the whole gorram thing could explode in their faces. Kaylee'd never worked on something like this before, all the delicate electronics and so forth…she held her breath as she snipped the green wire. A small light at the base of River's skull went out and the two plate-like pincers retracted out of her brain. She had done it.

Kaylee breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Her pa was right when he'd said she had a gift. A gift from Buddha.

For a moment, Simon lost all composure and wrapped the little mechanic up in an embrace. "You did it! You saved her!" Kaylee smiled at him. "Well, I don't know about that. I did do my job though." Simon looked at her, confounded some. "I am the mechanic on Serenity and I just fixed what needed to be fixed. Now, get that sister of yours sewn up again."

Kaylee peeled off the gloves Simon had given her, throwing them in the trash. She couldn't wait until Jayne woke up so's she could brag to him about how she'd saved River (according to Simon) and with only one hand at that. 'Somebody oughta buy me a drink,' she thought.

But Jayne was gone. Kaylee looked around the room frantically. Zoe was hauling a semi-conscious Jayne up the stairs to the cargo bay. Inara was no where to be seen.

"You can't move him!" she practically shouted at Zoe. "He could split open all over again!" Zoe gave her a sympathetic look. She knew what it was like to be afraid for her man.

"Captain's orders, little one."

"Look her in the face." Jayne was groggy and he wanted to go back to sleep. The whole right half of him felt like it was going to fall off. But Mal was shouting him, like usual. Had something happened to Kaylee? No, she had been screaming at Simon the last time he'd seen her. When had that been?

Then he saw the Reaver on the floor. Scary _hundan _was staring up at him with blue eyes. Eyes he'd seen before.

"God up in Shepherds heaven. That's my little sister."


	8. Out of Sight

One month later….

Kaylee watched as Jayne walked away from Serenity. The sun shone off of a store front window in the small town on Paquin, making him disappear quicker. It was a desert-y place, sand blowin every which a way and hot. He looked back only once and seemed to reconsider, seeing her standing there in pigtails and her pink dress.

Then he looked away and turned a corner so he was out of sight.

Kaylee turned away from the bay doors, not feeling the floor beneath her, not feeling the hum of Serenity's life, in short, not feeling anything, but a big icy weight in her stomach. She was to the bottom of the stairs when her legs gave. She began to sob, feeling as though every part of her was empty, like she was just going to float away. Kaylee put her hand to her heart, needing to feel it beating there, needing to make sure it was still there. She clung to the railing, crying a month's worth of tears.

'You should be glad he's gone,' part of her snapped. 'No more crazy talk about revenge for his sister, no more meanness to ya, no more worrying what to tell your baby about her daddy bein crazy.'

"Oh mei mei!" Inara had immerged from her shuttle. She ran down the stairs and swept Kaylee up in her arms.

Jayne kept walkin.

He told himself over and over that this was for the best, what he'd wanted. What both of them had wanted. He'd seen her standing there, getting smaller and smaller, her face never changing: about to cry, but waiting, waiting for him to disappear. Not wanting to cry in front of him. And he'd wanted to go to her, so's she wouldn't have to cry, tell her he loved her and kiss her all over and breath in her smell.

But instead he'd kept walkin.

There was one image burned into his brain: Maddy lying cut to pieces and with a bullet through her. Lookin like something the devil'd spat outta hell.

Lord knew it had been hard to be so mean to little Kaylee with only that image to block out her hurt face, but he hadn't wanted her to miss him once he was gone. That way she wouldn't want him to come back after he left and wouldn't grieve over much when he ended up in a body bag. He thought on all the ladies he'd left on Serenity: Lux, Betty, even his favorite, Vera. But he'd brought Kaylee along with him. Even know he could feel the small assault weapon against his chest, zipped up in his jacket. He'd had to leave the other Kaylee behind, along with their baby. Her baby now. Jayne didn't think he'd be coming back from this, not alive.

Jayne kept walkin.

Zoe moaned. She had been washing dishes in the kitchen when Simon had snuck up behind her. Well, maybe snuck up was less then accurate. He'd tried to sneak up on her. Nobody could really sneak up on Zoe Alleyne Washburne.

His hand slide over her hip, slowly pulling the waistband of her pants. The boy was touchin her in all the right ways, feelin her soft spot, first delicate then harder, makin her feel right nice, makin her push up against him. She could feel his breath on her neck.

Until suddenly it was Wash's hand cupping her breast. His breath on her neck. Just what was she doing? Letting this kid feel her up?

Zoe pulled away from Simon. " I shouldn't be doing this Doc." He looked at her, confused.

"I like you fine, but I can't help thinking about Wash. He's not even been dead a year and I'm already fixin to jump all over you." Simon's face tightened, but he only said "What ever you think is right." He turned and left Zoe alone in the kitchen.

She was staring at the door to Inara's shuttle. Inara stood there, looking at her questioningly.

"River?"

How had she gotten there? A moment ago she'd been in the kitchen drinking a glass of Kaylee's strawberry-lemonade, looking at the last sips at the bottom of the cup, hiding in the ice. And now she was here, but she could still taste the tartness in her mouth. River turned from Inara and fled.

Inara closed the shuttle door, not thinking on River's obvious fear, unexplained though it was. She was preoccupied with Kaylee. The girl lay on Inara's bed, curled into a little ball, her hands buried in her hair.

"Who's gonna love me now 'Nara?" Kaylee whispered. "What if he doesn't come back?"

Inara sat next the little mechanic and petted her hair, began to massage her neck.

"Shh, Kaylee. It's obvious he cares for you. I'm sure he wants to come back to you and your baby. And his home is here on Serenity. He left all of his things here, even Vera, so I'm sure he plans on returning."

Kaylee's sobs began to subside into deep breaths. Then she looked into Inara's face, so beautiful and kind. Kaylee saw love there and knew she could tell her anything and 'Nara would never think the less of her. The voice she heard clearly in her head, a voice which made her doubt what she wanted, said:

'I could be mean to ya. Real mean iffin I wanted to."

She burst into tears again, throwing her arms around the companion.

While all of this happened some thousand people were slaughtered in a small town called An-Jing by over three hundred Reavers.


	9. Unbidden

Mal was feeling shiney. For the first time in monthes Serenity's registration wasn't red with warning flags, the job had gone smooth with plenty of cash for food and parts. This morning all of the crew had been in a fine mood. He'd even managed to get in a few good words edgewise with Inara.

Yep, Mal Reynolds was damned content for a wanted man and for the first time in a long time.

River stood stock-still in the kitchen. She searched for flaws in the table top. 'If I don't move, I won't go anywhere," she thought incoherently.

The wood was warmly colored as was the aura surrounding it. Warm and full of contentment, even her chair. There were no flaws in the glow, it pulsed and shone. It laughed and shouted loudly, unafraid and constant. But all around it, was a lining of pain. Especially -

River stood on the cargo bay catwalk.

"No!"

She began to cry. "I wasn't moving, I was barely breathing!" she sobbed to no one.

She wanted to fall down and melt into the floor. Become cold unfeeling metal, moving only when bidden. The thought comforted her. She let her imagination run, concentrating on the fantasy.

Wash would always be close at hand, his ghost curled around the pilots chair. Mal would guide her through the sky and Kaylee would tend to her heart and soul...but Kaylee had not been in the engine room lately. Her usual joy had dissapated and her thoughts were no longer safe to crawl into and be lifted by. She seemed as though everything was frayed and frantich at the edges. Her thoughts had things swimming in the undertow...things that bit.

But whatever they were, Kaylee kept them well hidden from herself and River had dared not breach her mind.

Now, as she listened to the ships fluttering heartbeat, a cold thread of misery pierced her chest. It pulled her toward the door of Inara's shuttle. It was cold to touch.

River put her cheek against the hatch. Inara's glow pulsed around a smaller one, a glow which seemed defeated but laced through it were golden glimmers, faint and fading. Hope.

"Kaylee," River whispered.

River shut her eyes and opened them again. She stood in front of the shuttle door, she hadn't moved an inch.

She held her breath and reached for the handle on the hatch.

Jayne'd reached his destination.

No one'd ever given much credit to Jayne Cobb as a thinker, but when it came to loved ones, the blood between his legs made a violent upward surge to power whatever was betweeen his ears.

The man behind the desk handed him the screen to fill out the forms. Jayne already knew who he was going to be masquerading as. A while back he'd worked with an ex-Special Forces wacko named John Pembry.Pembry had got to talking from time to time about his military career. Some mighty strange things'd come out of his mouth if you let him drink enough.

Pembry had, on one memorable occaision, drunk enough to drown a horse. He'd been talking about how if he ever went back (which he staunchly refused to do, no matter how tight money got or how much booze got swilled) he'd be eligible for any job he wanted.

Perhaps, Jayne'd thought when told this, that he only had this 'honor' because he'd done something 'loyal' enough to warrent all of the drinking he did.

In any case, when Pembry died Jayne'd thought to save his papers (the man had been broke and a good foot shorter then Jayne when he bought it). This was just before he'd gotten picked up by Serenity and he'd been planning to sell Pembry's ID to some fugee or other for a quick buck.

And it was these saved papers which now secured him a chance at vengence for Maddy, for his ma and even, a little bit, Kaylee. Because he wouldn't be coming back and Jayne thought, as the recruiter behind the desk welcomed John Pembry back into the Alliance Armed Forces with a salute and an awe-filled gaze, that when Kaylee saw his body it would make-up for the horrible things he'd done to her.

Inara looked up as River entered the shuttle.

"Kaylee," the girl called silently. Kaylee's head, which had been buried in Inara's chest looked up at River.

"I came to help you."

River took a step towards the mechanic.

"Here to help. Don't be afraid." The young psychic put her hands gently on Kaylee's temples.

"River, honey, what are you doing?" Inara asked quietly.

"Saving Kaylee."

I'll always love you my Zoe, no matter what happens.

Zoe sat, wordlessly, on her bunk. She did not cry as she tightly gripped the letter. The letter from Wash. It was a simple little note, attatched to an unopened box.

The note didn't say anything about sleeping with anybody else once he was dead.

The minutes slid by as she read it over and over again, trying to find something to condemn her, to make her a bad person for what she'd done. Zoe felt a tearing curiosity needle at the nape of her neck. She eyed the box and picked it up.

Mal stood in the empty cargo bay.

"Hello?"

His voice echoed through the ship. Where the hell was everybody?


	10. Red

In the coming days Jayne found that it was easy to be John Pembry. When he was shown things that would've made Jayne Cobb go through the roof, he smiled tightly and nodded. All he ever seemed to do was nod. He rarely spoke to anybody on the ship he was on, Golaith. To everyone but a few of the Core officers, who thought he was a bit simple, this silence gave him a mysterious quality. Rumors about him were traded more then cigarettes with some of the greenest recruits.

This made Jayne want to laugh all the time. He wanted badly to tell Kaylee about this. He could hear her laugh in his head, "The mysterious Jayne!" she'd practically shriek, throwin her head back like she was crazy.

At night he would dream of her and being back on Serenity. He'd dream that she would come down into his bunk wearin her boots and his big coat with naught beneath it but them lacy panties she'd bought on Valentines Day. Jayne put little stock in such holidays, but sometimes the presents were better then Christmas. Now she'd wriggle outta that big coat real slow, like some fancy dancer in a bar. And there she'd stand in those little undies and big ol boots, pretty as you please.

He could smell her in those dreams, just like he could feel her skin under his fingers and taste her.

Jayne would suck at her breasts just to hear her moan his name. Kaylee'd press up against him and he'd sneak his fingers up underneath all that lace, teasin her for a while till he-

woke up, alone, wondering where Kaylee was, where Serenity was. Then he'd remember that he'd left and that Kaylee probably never wanted to see him again.

Zoe sat next to Simon in the passenger dorm. "Well," Simon said, "the baby appears to be healthy from all the scans we took on Paquin. It's a wonder we could find anybody at all but that doctor did a wonderful job."

"Didn't feel alright to me." Zoe said as she stood up, her belly preceeding her. "Strange, havin a man down there so long and not coming." Simon blushed. Zoe smiled at him.

"I'll see you later then." he said.

Zoe turned and left, without saying anything.

"What's up 'Nara?" Kaylee asked. Ever since River'd...well, done what ever it was that she'd done, Kaylee'd been a bit more like her old self, but no where near back to normal.

"Well Kaylee," Inara began, "I spoke with the captain about it and he agrees that maybe you need some time off."

Kaylee looked at her blankly. "A vacation? Where? What for?"

She was suddenly adverse to the idea. Ever since Jayne'd gone all she'd do, night and day, was sleep or work the engine, rehooking wires, tightening bolts, hardly leaving the engine room to eat. A deep calm would settle into her when she looked at her girl's spinning heart. She was loath to leaving Serenity before Jayne left and now Kaylee could barely stand being away from the ship. She got antsy planetside always itching to get back to the ship with what little parts Mal allowed her the coin to buy. A trip away sounded about as hellish to her as surgery with no anesthesia.

"Kaylee, I want you to come to Sihnon as a favor to me. I need to do something and I want you to be with me." Inara looked at her and smiled sadly. "You're the only person I trust enough to come with me."

Kaylee looked at her friend, surprised. 'Nara was one of the strongest people she knew. For her to ask for help, especially so plaintively was almost shocking to Kaylee.

Kaylee sighed and then smiled at her.

"When are we leavin?"

Jayne sat very still. He'd dropped a few names, mentioned Buell a couple of times and now here he was. He desperately wanted to fidget and scream and possible kill a few people. The formal uniform he was wearing was itchy and made his skin feel tight, like it was shrinking.

The men who sat on either side of him were stock still, their faces blank as they watched the gruesome spectacle in front of them.

The room, so big it seemed like a hall, was full of people, close to a hundred. Most of them were laying down on the floor or staring blankly ahead as they were violently raped and eaten by the three who'd turned.

One girl about River's age stared into the one way mirror as one of the Reavers took her from behind and visciously tore into her throat. Jayne felt like she was looking right at him, as if saying, 'I know you. You could've saved us.'

The man who was showing them this, 'only cause we asked' Jayne thought bitterly, was a squirelly fellow in a lab coat. "As you can see here, subjects that respond positively to the treatment, almost 3, are viscious and have little or no control over their impulses. But with proper conditioning they create better soldiers, with no morals, no complaints and no rations." The man chuckled nervously. "This gentlemen is the war machine of the future. Completly expendable and not too expensive to create."

"What about Buell? Hundreds killed that far into the Rim. What with the Miranda broadwave we could have a full scale rebellion on our hands!" one of the officers spat.

The lab coat seemed shaken. "Well our producer has been demanding higher pay, which we vetoed. They sent specific, representatives to Buell to attempt to make a point about their control over the situation.

Jayne cleared his throat and said "Producer?"

"Blue Sun."

The Great City on Sihnon was like nothing Kaylee had ever seen before. Everything was rushing past in colorful, bright blurs. Inara hadn't told Kaylee why she had left Sihnon but from what she could tell, her friend was not so glad to be home again.

When they landed in the shuttle, Inara turned to her and said "Kaylee I'm here to exact justice for the Guild. That means I'm going to kill somebody."

"What? 'Nara I don't-"

"Please. Let me explain. When I was newly initiated as a Companion there was a man who raped me. We were- I had slept with him before when I was still in training. I brought it before the Guild Tribunal. The man claimed that we were having an affair against Guild law. They sent me away from Sihnon while they deliberated over judgement, whether or not to believe me and so on. They've finally decided that my request for justice is called for. The Guild has marked him for me. That's what I'm here to do mei mei."

"What do you want me to do 'Nara?"

Inara smiled at her. "Whatever you want mei-mei. I've got about three hundred platinum for you to spend as you like. You'll be staying in House Madrassa as a personal guest of mine. I won't see you for about two days. But you'll know when I've...taken care of this man."

"Okay 'Nara. I understand why you gotta...you know, off him."

Inara smiled for the first time that day. "Thank you mei mei. I know you do."

They'd almost caught him. He'd been shot near the ribs when he ran. Now on the transport he'd hopped, even breathing hurt like hell. He'd been nosing around in some files about River and Blue Sun and Miranda. He'd stolen a whole bunch of paper work when they'd found him. Turned out the Squirell Man had known the real Pembry and reported him. Now he was running from the biggest bunch of ugly he'd ever seen.

They didn't know who he really was so Jayne'd ditched the uniform and the ID cards and papers. He was sick of John Pembry and his whole world. He was back to bein plain old Jayne Miriam Cobb.

Sheydra welcomed John Sturgis calmly. She knew Inara had wanted to spill this mans blood for a long time. Burning rage for her friend spurred her onward. She hoped he died screaming.

Kaylee was a little ashamed at herself for being so easily distracted from Inara. Sihnon was full of things and people the like of which she almost never saw. She'd never been on her own in a big city before. Kaylee was glad Inara had told her to have a good time, otherwise she'd probably be sick with guilt about now.

She paused, looking over a cart full of all manner of frippery. She chose a ring with a red stone in it. The stone, the vendor explained, was the color of Shinon called 'chu' and was considered lucky. Kaylee looked at the ring carefully. She thought of Jayne, probably light years away from where she was. Not even thinkin on her...but that was silly. Of course he was thinkin on her! She was lucky now. She smiled at the little old man and handed him the credits he wanted.

Jayne squinted in the bright light. He was used to the Black and didn't even know it. Shinon was busy and strange to him. He'd never been there before. The first shuttle off of the godless rock he'd been on and now he was stuck: no money, no gun, no Kaylee or Serenity and certainly no prissy fancy pants Doc. He was a bit dizzy when he stumbled into some girl buying something. But suddenly there she was. He saw the colors and the shiney smile. "Kaylee..." he said, grinning like a drunk before he collapsed in the street.

"Jayne? Jayne!"

:CONTINUED IN WORLD WITHOUT SIN:


End file.
